Call to ensure ‘never again means never again’ at moving Holocaust memorial event
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Michael Gove and Angela Rayner were among the speakers at the moving Holocaust Memorial Day Trust event in Westminster
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
From Chief Rabbi to Archbishop, from Conservative to Labour politician, and of course, from the survivors, came a unified message.
The need to educate, and learn the lessons from the Holocaust in today’s world has never been more vital.
During a Holocaust Memorial Day event in central London, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis used his speech to focus on the theme of this year’s commemorations ‘Ordinary People.’
He noted how ordinary people had been amongst those who watched as “bystanders” during the rise of fascism in Germany in the 1930s, with devastating consequences.
But Rabbi Mirvis also paid tribute to the efforts of ordinary people to stem the tide of oppressive regimes across the globe.
He said: “Today the welfare and well being and the very lives of Uyghurs in China and the Rohingya in Myanmar are in the hands of ordinary people, just as the security of millions of innocent men women and children right across Ukraine is today in jeopardy.
“Surely the time has come for ordinary men and women right across the globe to determine that never again means never again.”
Wednesday’s event, hosted in the Concert Hall of St John’s Smith Square, Westminster and organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, was their first in-person event for three years, due to the pandemic.
Photo: Justin Grainge
In his speech Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove referenced the rise in antisemitic incidents in the UK, along with “violence across the globe.”
He spoke of the vital need for the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre which will be a “permanent reminder” of the horrors of the Nazi genocide.
The minister added:”That is why Holocaust Memorial Day is so important.
“It reminds us of the unique work of every individual, whatever god they worship …ordinary people everywhere, our brothers and sisters.
“Holocaust Memorial Day calls on us to protect them, for ever and always.”
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner also delivered an impassioned speech in which she referenced the Holocaust survivors and said:”we are now at a point in our history where we have to do more to ensure those voices are never silenced.”
Rayner added:”This year in particular I’ve thought about the difficulties that many of survivors have faced over the decades having to relive and tell their stories, but the significance and importance of that challenge, and how they have met that challenge with bravery.”
In a video message, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak showed support for the event and spoke about the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre which is being built next to Parliament.
Addressing survivors, Mr Sunak said: “Your message will stand immortalised in the memorial, your testimonies will be heard in the learning centre, and your call to fight hatred will echo eternally across the generations, so long after we are all gone, your truth will remain and humanity will never be allowed to forget.”
Speaking inside the venue the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said:”Something as complex as genocide is not the work of one person – it a process of othering, persecution and ultimatly extermination.
“But seeds of hope are contained in ordinary people too, people who resist, people who rescue.”
Welby added:”:We must all be altert to the signs of identity based persecution”.
The audience for the event also included foreign secretary James Cleverly.Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and Lord John Mann.
In another poignant moment, survivorDr Martin Sternspoke about his wartime experience surviving horrific conditions in Netherlands Nazi camps.
He recounted surviving life at Westerbork and Theresienstadt camps in what was then Nazi-occupied Netherlands as a young boy.
Stern told how his father died in a separate camp in 1945, and his mother died due to an infection during childbirth in 1942.
He added“The key to solving the problem of recurring genocides has to lie in the education of every human child, everywhere in the world, forever.
“It is a huge task, but not a hopeless one. The human race has made progress, but boy does it need to make more.”
Later he joined survivors from other atrocities across the globe in a poignant candle lighting ceremony.
Earlier Laura Marks OBE had welcomed attendees to the moving event.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of HMTD later said: “Holocaust Memorial Day feels more important than ever.
“The world is feeling quite fragile for a lot of people.
“We know that incidents of antisemitism have increased in the UK and other forms of hate crime still persist, so to have an annual Holocaust Memorial event where we are learning where hatred ultimately led when it wasn’t challenged is hugely important.”
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